hen Don McNeill,
CEO of CateringStone took over business
development
for the company HemoStable he had
no idea he would be on the verge of
creating an industry-changing product. As caterers know, when you are
trying to keep food hot or cold in safe
range there are not many options and
not much has changed in the past 100
years. Whether you are storing food
for a long ride or need to keep your
food hot for an extended period of
service, the solutions caterers have
are expensive, relatively ineffective
and can even be dangerous.
Don McNeill was brought in with
HemoStable after his longtime friend,
former Chief Computer Scientist
at Dupont, Dr. David Pensak asked
him to take over his business development. HemoStable had the ability to keep blood in the safe range of
1-6°Celsius for up to 50 hours! It did
not take long before Don saw the
potential this product could have in
a different market. “I looked at that
same technology and thought, if we
have the ability to keep blood safe
for 50 hours without ice, what can we

do to help save some of the 100 billion pounds of nutritious food that
gets thrown out in this country every
year?” McNeill asked.
After the company had perfected
cold with their -9°F below zero Stone
and essentially solved a major issue
caterers have at the end of the night
with their excess foods, the company
shifted in the other direction. The CateringStone team was told that they’ve
conquered cold, now conquer hot and
you will conquer the world. After that
point the wheels were in motion.
McNeill and his team set out to do
just that, and started with a 154°F
stone. While it was certainly in the
safe zone, over 140°F, it was not palate
pleasing hot. The CateringStone team
went on to make a second stone, this
time at 190°F; while this was certainly
palate pleasing hot it also continued
to cook the food and chefs don’t like
that! The third time was the charm for
CateringStone, they created a perfect
palate pleasing stone at 176 degrees
Fahrenheit that will stay hot for twothree hours in direct food service or
up to six hours in transportation.
So how does it all work? “The stones
are actually high-density polyethyl-

20 • April 2017 • Total Food Service • www.totalfood.com

ene bottles and they’re filled with a
specialty chemical that’s set to a specific temperature, with proprietary ingredients,” McNeill said.
The aspect of the CateringStone
that people don’t seem to get is that
there are two parts to the product that
make it great. The CateringStone has
its obvious ability to keep things cold
and hot for extended periods, but it
saves money over existing methods
by being reusable hundreds of times.
Another aspect of the product line is
it’s clear pleasing aesthetic. CateringStone offers its clients a plethora of
very aesthetically pleasing thermal
conductive servers: Stainless steel
covers, oval passed platter trays, pizza
trays, tempered glass tops, slate tops,
their iconic soapstone tops and their
beautiful American Black Walnut bases. They also offer completely custom
units where you can get any design
laser engraved on the wood, or get
glass tops with your images and logos
offering completely new branding solutions. You can even customize your
box with LED lighting that backlights
your food presentation for a stunning display that has never been done
before.

So what makes CateringStone such
a solid investment? The biggest and
most important aspect of CateringStone is that it is reusable. The fact
that it is made from sustainable material and is eco-friendly is just an added plus. A caterer can spend as little
as $0.58 a can for two hours of canned
heat. But even at that low price CateringStone will save you around $1,300
over the life of the Stone. On the cold
side of things you will save over the
cost of bagged ice and on the clean
up time and mess associated with ice
melt.
The Wilmington, Delaware based
company stumbled on to this amazing product for warming and cooling
catering solutions. McNeill and his
team are proud that their company is
an eco-friendly sustainable company
that have been able to launch The CateringStone while working with local
businesses as close as 5 minutes away.
This elegant product has the ability to
truly innovate an industry that has
not seen much change.
If you are a caterer looking for a new
and exciting way to innovate and save
money, go to www.cateringstone.com
and learn more.